


nancy drew and the mystery of the magnetic closet

by lesbianrobin



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Family Video (Stranger Things), Gen, Minor Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler-Centric, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianrobin/pseuds/lesbianrobin
Summary: Robin probably cries in front of Steve. Nancy can't really picture Robin in tears, but if she and Steve are so close then she must be hiding some vulnerability, something soft and fragile that Nancy just can't see. Steve loves her, understands her more than he ever did Nancy.Something is different, and she ignores the taunts ofNancy Dre-ewthat rise unbidden from the back of her mind as she once again grips the steering wheel like it's personally offended her, driving a little too fast for Hawkins roads at night and ignoring the rumble of the car in favor of focusing on the facts in front of her.
Relationships: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler
Comments: 15
Kudos: 141





	1. the double jinx mystery

Nancy’s always hated The Parent Trap.

It's a stupid idea, it would never work in real life, and if two people decide they're better off apart, well, they're probably right, especially if those two people decide on such an insane custody arrangement. Some people just aren't cut out for relationships.

Nancy's trying not to be one of them. It isn't her fault that her first boyfriend was inextricably linked to Barb's death, just like it isn't her fault that Jonathan's mom decided to move the family away. It's for the best. Nancy's kind of jealous, honestly. What would it be like to live somewhere that isn't crawling with ghosts? She would ask Jonathan, but it doesn't feel right to ask over the phone. The government is listening, always listening, and so they talk about school, about how much they miss each other, about the weather and how the trees in the Byers' new backyard look different but Jonathan didn't really pay attention in Bio so he doesn't know how to describe them besides "different." When her mom asks if her sour mood is just because she misses him, Nancy says yes.

It's closer to the truth than most things she tells her parents these days.

Today she’s being honest. She’s picking up the stupid movie that Mom wants them to watch with Mike and Holly. Dad will probably be there too, but he’ll fall asleep before the annoying twins even get in trouble at camp, so he doesn’t count, not that he ever really counts for much. Nancy only agreed to do it so she could take the car and feel the slightest hint of freedom for a few minutes, but Mom never asked  _ why _ she offered, so she never really lied. It’s not a big deal, anyways. Nancy is seventeen. She’s a monster hunter. An investigative journalist. One-thirteenth of a group that’s saved the town, the country, and maybe even the world more than once. She’s earned a bit of freedom. Unfortunately for her, a short drive to the video store is about as close to freedom as someone can get in Hawkins, assuming that someone is averse to knocking down mailboxes and/or getting drunk under the overpass. 

Nancy zips her coat up and drives with the windows down. It’s a perk of a short cut, that the wind can rip through her window and numb her face without whipping her hair into an effective blindfold. The air burns her lungs and creates a nice white noise, so loud that she can ignore how her fingers are white and red where they’re clenched around the steering wheel and how her eyes blur whenever she sees headlights. She misses the turn for the arcade and has to double back, pulling into somebody’s driveway to turn around and wondering if the people inside even notice her. She pulls into the parking lot, snagging a spot right outside of Family Video. The store glows something like heaven.

Escapism for just a couple bucks on Thursday nights. It’s a steal compared to the price of speeding tickets and court fees.

Nancy tucks her hands into her pockets for the short walk from the parking lot to the door, flexing her fingers and marveling at the loss of feeling as she grabs the door handle. Opening it sets loose a blast of heat and a pair of voices. 

“ — up, dingus, she’s mature — ”

“Yeah, that’s thesaurus for old.”

“I forgot, you like yours young, right, cradle robber?”

“Jesus Christ, it’s a year!”

The voices are coming from behind a shelf near the back corner of the store. Just Nancy’s fucking luck that they’d be talking about her.

"Shh, customer," Robin hisses, and her head pokes out. Her hair is a mess and she's wearing a truly awful Family Video vest on top of an oversized button-up. Nancy's fairly sure she's rocking second-day eyeliner. She's only wearing one earring, something dangly and shiny. The whole look isn't very cute, but it sort of works for her. Steve could do worse.

"Oh," she says flatly. "It's just Wheeler." 

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Steve calls, still invisible as Nancy scans the shelves in front.

"Not that one," Nancy calls back.

Something clatters and Robin ducks back behind the shelf, laughing. 

"You  _ asshole _ — " 

"You know if it was Mike I would have said — "

"Something meaner, yes, I know. Asshole."

Steve finally makes an appearance. His hair comes first, of course, a terrible vest that somehow looks much less terrible than Robin's, then something glints and  _ holy shit Steve is wearing an earring _ —

"Looking for anything?" 

He smiles.

"Uh," Nancy says. 

It looks just like Robin's.

She sticks her hands back into her pockets. "The, uh, Parent Trap. You know, for Holly." 

Steve clicks his tongue. "Teach 'em about the trials of marriage while they're young, I guess. Rob, where’s — "

"Family section, the P's." 

"Right, yeah, I knew that. Come here," Steve says, and Nancy follows.

"How is Holly? Her birthday was a couple weeks ago, right?" Steve bobs slowly up and down as they move through the shelves, squinting at the titles near the floor before slowly coming back up to check out the next column. Nancy should probably be looking too, seeing as Steve is, well, Steve, but she finds herself watching him instead.

God, Nancy's made a lot of mistakes in her young life, but Steve might be the worst one of all. 

Nancy snaps out of it. "Yeah, yeah!" She forces a laugh, wincing at how loud her voice seems in the nearly-empty store. "You'd think she turned fifteen instead of five, she keeps saying she can do everything by herself."

"God, she's so old. Five…" he trails off, pausing to check behind some evidently misplaced tapes.

"Yeah, Mom's gonna have a crisis sooner or later," Nancy says. "Mike thinks it's gonna be when she starts first grade." 

Steve turns back to her with an inscrutable look on his face. "I can't blame her," he says, and their eyes meet until Nancy decides that's too much and starts scanning the shelves herself.

"I mean, it's, like… kids, y'know? One second they're kids, and the next, they're, like… well, you get what I mean."

"Yeah, it's, uh… it's crazy."

It's weird, how Steve just being himself always makes her feel a million twisted-up things in her gut. Most of them are bad. Not all of them. It would be easier if they were all bad, but even most of the bad ones have nothing to do with Steve himself, so she isn't sure if getting rid of the good ones would really help at all. 

Holly always loved Steve. She even cried when Nancy told her that Steve would probably never come over again. Nancy got in trouble for making her sister cry even though she was telling the truth, and she didn't speak to Mom or Holly for the rest of the week out of protest. Holly got over it after a few months, and Nancy doubts that she'd even remember Steve now. Her brain is still, like, the size of an orange. Holly isn't the problem.

The problem is that Steve loved Holly. Played tea party with her, braided her hair, let her draw on his arms and tug on his expensive sweaters and squish her gross little hands all over his face even though he's mortally terrified of acne. Now, even after months apart, he still remembers her birthday.

Nancy can't even remember either of Steve's parents' names.

“Ah! Here ya go!” Steve springs up from the bottom shelf and holds the tape out with a broad grin.

“Cool,” Nancy says. A flood of embarrassment washes over her. “Uh, thanks. How have you been?”

She can hear Robin shuffling around as Steve leads her to the counter. “I don’t think you want me to answer that.”

“He’s doing good,” Robin offers, “I finally got him to wear something without a collar.”

He is wearing something without a collar. It’s just a plain long-sleeve tee, but it’s a nice shade of blue, light enough that Nancy knows it’s only her own twisted memories bringing his Scoops uniform to mind and that it’s not actually anywhere near as garish. It looks soft.

“God, shut up,” Steve mutters, glaring over Nancy’s shoulder before shooting her an apologetic smile. “Robin’s got something against polos.” He lifts the gate and slips behind the register.

“Oh, Robin’s got everything against polos.” Robin emerges from the shelves with an empty crate, stopping right by Nancy’s shoulder to hand Steve the crate over the counter. “Mostly the fact that they’re all you seem to own.”

“What, I’m just supposed to tell my mom, no, the nice shirt —”

“Yes! Just tell your mom no!”

“No!”

Robin sticks her tongue out at him and he sticks his out right back. Then his eyes slip to Nancy and he abruptly stops, pressing his mouth into a thin line and clearing his throat. 

“So, will that be all?

Being in Family Video suddenly feels very wrong. The store is too small and Steve and Robin are too big. Nancy doesn't belong here.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Steve looks to Robin as she slips behind the counter, and something is communicated, though Nancy couldn’t possibly imagine what. It makes her feel itchy.

“That’s, uh, four bucks, then.”

_ No friends and family discount? _ she wants to tease, the words almost leaping from her tongue without permission, but she presses her lips together and pulls out her wallet instead, handing Steve a five dollar bill. Friends is… generous, maybe, while still being an understatement. Family fits better. Somebody that you’ll always be tied to, no matter what you do or where you go. Somebody who helped make you who you are. Somebody you think you love, probably, but you can't separate the obligation from the feeling, and who decides what love feels like anyways, so you'll just have to live with the uncertainty.

It still doesn’t feel quite right.

Steve gives her back a dollar fifty instead of the dollar she’s owed. She slides the change into her pocket and the dollar into her wallet, then takes the tape.

They look at each other. His earring glints in the fluorescent light. 

"Well!" Steve says, smacking the counter, "Hope Holly enjoys it."

"I'll let her know you remembered," Nancy says. "Her, um, birthday. She wanted to invite you."

His eyebrows knit together for a split second before he laughs. "No shit?" 

Nancy does her best to laugh, too. "Yeah. But Mom said she had to keep the list to friends her own age."

"Tell her I'm sorry I missed it, then."

"I will."

_ Love you, _ she remembers saying like it meant nothing, pressing a kiss to his cheek and grinning as they parted ways for class.

She coughs. "Uh, bye."

Steve blinks. "Oh, yeah. Bye." He raises a hand in farewell, lets it hang for an awkward moment before letting it fall.

If she didn't know better, she might think that he was remembering it, too.

Nancy leaves the store. The cold air shocks her system, but it can't put a stop to her traitorous mind. Thoughts keep swirling as she rushes into the car, eager to be anywhere but here. Since when does Steve wear earrings? Was it a dare? A lost bet? Or is he just so enamored of Robin that he'd do anything? Maybe he would have worn an earring for Nancy, if she'd asked. He did just about everything she asked back then. It was nice, being with Steve. She'd been trying to be nice, and even though it felt fake, it had felt good, too, to be adored, to have strong arms around her and a warm voice in her ear and a shoulder to cry on. Not that she'd often cried in front of Steve. She could have, though, if she'd been strong enough to withstand his pity. Maybe if she had only tried, that could have been nice, too.

Robin probably cries in front of Steve. Nancy can't really picture Robin in tears, but if she and Steve are so close then she must be hiding some vulnerability, something soft and fragile that Nancy just can't see. Steve loves her, understands her more than he ever did Nancy.

But it's different. Something is different, and she ignores the taunts of  _ Nancy Dre-ew  _ that rise unbidden from the back of her mind as she once again grips the steering wheel like it's personally offended her, driving a little too fast for Hawkins roads at night and ignoring the rumble of the car in favor of focusing on the facts in front of her.

Steve pierced his ear. He split a pair of shiny earrings with Robin. Robin who knows Steve's wardrobe, who knows that he's a pushover for his mom, with whom Steve shares the kind of easy understanding that lets them have entire conversations without letting anything slip to the world around them. It would be easy, if they were in love, but it sounded like Steve was talking to her about Nancy when she first came in. He remembers things about her baby sister. Steve had looked at Nancy like she hurt to see; like maybe he still loves her. 

He and Robin aren't in love. Nancy knows Steve in love, and Steve in love doesn't stick out his tongue and call his lover an asshole. So what is it? What the hell could she be missing?

_ Nancy Dre-ew, _ croons the voice in her head, and Nancy shudders as she pulls into the driveway. She clenches her jaw as she puts the car in park and turns it off, feeling suddenly empty as the rumble dies and leaves her in silence.

Maybe a mystery is just what she needs.


	2. race against time

It’s probably a bad sign that Nancy’s drawing up a conceptual diagram about her ex’s relationship with a girl she barely knows. 

It’s definitely a bad sign that she’s doing it at two in the morning. 

Nancy crosses her arms, frowning down at the notebook splayed on her bed. Two big circles, STEVE and ROBIN, are centered on the page and connected by a solid line, on which she’s written “COWORKERS + ???.” She’s put a few tiny bullet points in both Steve and Robin’s bubbles, noting the areas of Steve’s life Robin seemed intimately familiar with in her bubble and noting ways that Steve’s treatment of Robin seems different from how he’d treated Nancy. Both circles are connected to a small EARRING bubble, and a slightly larger ASSHOLE bubble.

Why did she think that this would help? Squinting at her own cramped handwriting in the lamplight is just giving her a headache, and if Mike ever comes snooping and sees this he’ll probably rat her out to Steve or blackmail her with it. Laying out the information won’t help until she has something more, and even though she’d felt as though she were on the brink of something when she left Family Video yesterday, it’s becoming increasingly evident that she has jack shit. 

She snaps the notebook shut with a huff. There’s no magic length of time to wait before going back to sleep after a nightmare that’ll guarantee sweet dreams, but Nancy’s nearing the point where she’d rather take the nightmares than deal with being conscious. At least Unconscious Nancy’s boyfriend is usually dying right next to her instead of a thousand miles away, and at least Unconscious Nancy dies doing something heroic instead of giving herself a brain aneurysm while wearing a flannel pajama set. Unconscious Nancy might forget how to run sometimes and accidentally shoot her loved ones in the head, but at least she’s interesting. Conscious Nancy is just… Nancy. 

In the morning she can’t quite say that it took hours to get back to sleep. It definitely felt like ages, but time likes to expand and contract in the dark, and she feels more or less rested, so it couldn’t have been too long.

“Nancy, honey, do you have any plans for tonight?”

“Uh, I’m not sure yet. Why?”

“I was wondering if you could watch Holly while your father and I go out.”

“Oh.”

"I'm staying at Dustin's to work on our project," Mike says smugly.

Nancy takes a bite of her toast and chews it for longer than strictly necessary.

Mom doesn't seem to pick up on Mike's tone. “What plans were you unsure about?”

Nancy finally swallows her toast. “Well, I was going to do a movie night with Robin if she doesn’t have work. They’re always changing the schedule up last minute, so she said she’d let me know at school.”

“Robin?" Mom frowns. "Is she from student council?”

“No, uh.” Nancy takes a slow sip of orange juice. “She works with Steve. He was gonna try and join us, actually, but, you know, same schedule thing. It’s kinda hard for them to get the same night off, especially on weekends.”

“I didn’t know you were hanging out with Steve again.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Mike adds, narrowing his eyes. 

Shit. Nancy lightly kicks his leg underneath the table, smiling pleasantly.

“We were always friends. He just… we both needed a little time, you know? But we’re cool now.”

Mike continues to stare at her, but Mom seems to buy it. “Well, the three of you could have a little movie night here, right?”

Holly wiggles in her chair, sitting up on her knees. “I want to see Steve.”

“He might have work, Holls,” Nancy says gently, and her heart stalls at the scrunched look on Holly’s face.

“Yeah, sweetie, it would be nice if he could come, but if he has to work he has to work, like Daddy.”

Thank god. Holly’s still frowning, but the threat of tears has subsided, which is all that really matters to Nancy. She eats the rest of her breakfast quickly, dumps the dishes in the sink, and heads out for school.

Driving is weird. She never had to do it when she was dating Steve, and she rarely had to do it when she was dating Jonathan… not that they aren’t still dating. Sometimes she has a hard time remembering, now, but they  _ are  _ together. Regardless, he’s gone and now she has to drive herself to and from school, which means that she has to deal with Mike rubbing his passenger seat privileges in Lucas’s face every day, Lucas commenting on how it looks for them to stick the black kid in the back of the car, Mike arguing that he has cupholders and his own A/C vent back there and it’s his sister driving, not Lucas’s, and Lucas can hitch a ride on Erica’s Big Wheel if he wants, and then sometimes they start trying to hit each other, and she has to yell at them, and then they ride in tense silence until they reach the school.

Going to school is also weird. Her senior year isn’t anything like she’d imagined. It’s a lot… quieter. 

Nancy taps her fingers and bounces her leg through her morning classes. How do you ask somebody to hang out? It’s been too long. It’s not like it really matters, but if Robin says no then she might never get her answers, so… maybe it matters. Just a little bit. From what Nancy’s heard, Robin’s always just hanging out with Steve, or sometimes Mike and his friends, so it’s not like she’ll have plans or something. Probably. She probably won’t have plans. Even if she does, it’ll probably just be homework, and Nancy can offer to help with whatever it is so that she’ll still come over. It’ll be easy.

The bell never rings when she expects, always a few minutes later, but eventually lunch rolls around. Once she’s gotten her food she starts to peer around the room, looking for a flash of blue before realizing how dumb that is, and then just looking for any face she recognizes. It takes a little while, but Robin’s there. All the way across the cafeteria, sitting with some kids that Nancy thinks might be in drama. She’s definitely never spoken to any of them before. As if on cue, they all laugh, and Nancy quickly shuffles over to her usual table and sits. If she goes over there now, she’ll have to sit for the whole lunch period, and she doesn’t really feel like making small talk with strangers. Better to eat now and catch her while everyone’s returning their trays. 

Nancy keeps her eye on Robin as she eats. She doesn’t seem to talk much. She just listens to her friends, laughs when the others do, but Nancy never sees her lips move for more than a brief word. It’s not really what she’d expected from someone close with Steve, but then... maybe that’s the answer? Robin certainly hadn’t seemed shy in Family Video. Maybe for some reason she only comes out of her shell around him. 

Steve can have that effect. He’s kind and encouraging, and he’ll gladly listen to someone talk for hours even if he has no clue what they’re talking about. Maybe when they worked together at Scoops, Robin realized that he’d listen to her without judgment, so she latched on and hasn’t let go. That still doesn’t explain why Steve is so taken with Robin, though. What does she bring to the table? What does she bring out in him that makes him wear earrings and look at her like that? 

Nancy finishes her lunch. It looks like Robin is still eating, though, and she’s talking now, engaging in some group conversation. She seems annoyed.

She might not want to say yes if Nancy interrupts her. 

...The payphone is right outside, and she ought to have some change in her pocket.

"Family Video."

"Hey, Steve?"

"...Nancy?"

"Yeah," she says, twirling the phone cord around her finger and trying to look casual.

"Shit, is everything alright?"

"Yeah! Yeah, sorry, no, everything's fine. Social call."

"Oh!" Steve laughs, just a little, before he continues. "What's up?"

"Do you guys have plans tonight?"

"...You guys?" 

"You and Robin," Nancy clarifies. 

"Oh. Uh… I don't know about Robin, but I've gotta close at ten. Why?"

"Wait, you're working from open to close? Is that even legal?"

"Uh, I don't know," Steve says, "But I'm covering because Keith called in sick. I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to work, though."

Nancy huffs. "Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to come over. You and Robin. I'm babysitting Holly, and you know she's been wanting to see you, and I thought it might be fun to have some company anyways. You know, get to know Robin a little."

"Oh, that's a good idea! I can't really check with Robin, though, until after school, so you might want to track her down and ask her about it." 

"Right." Nancy untwirls the phone cord, dropping it and letting it bounce in the cool air. "I'll do that. Are you coming, though? After work?" 

"Yeah, of course! Uh, of course we have Pretty in Pink!"

"Huh?"

"You're welcome… valued customer."

Steve hangs up right as the bell rings… which means that she’ll need to catch Robin after school before she leaves.

Shit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyy... so this is late <3 and way shorter than i'd planned <3 but i rly wanted to go ahead and get an update out, and the ending of this chapter seemed like a good place to cut it off for now cnsjcndncn i hope u all don't mind too much!! i'm back in school so i can't promise the next update will be very soon but i'm gonna do my best!!

**Author's Note:**

> hi everybody and welcome to a fic i've kinda had on the brain for like a year now! i'm not yet sure exactly how many parts this'll be, but it should be somewhere between 3-6.
> 
> thanks so much to my love sarah (@steveharrington on tumblr and @birthdaycandles on here) for reading all my fics and encouraging me to keep writing!! 
> 
> if you wanna talk ab this fic please leave me a comment or come say hi to me over on tumblr @lesbianrobin!!! see you all soon <3


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